Then he set the door in its place and rode straight for Bracefort.
When he reached the hill-top he saw some one riding upward; and
galloping down soon found himself face to face with Lady Eleanor. In
spite of what she had said on the day before she seemed very happy to
see him twenty-four hours earlier than she had appointed, and it was
not for some minutes that they came to the matter which had brought
them together again. Then Colonel George told her what he had seen at
the hut, though he found it hard to tell her anything so sad at such a
time. She listened with many tears, but when she had recovered herself
somewhat, she told Colonel George that there was one person more who
must hear the story of Lucy Dart at once.
So when they came to Bracefort they went to see old Sally Dart, who had
become weaker again in the last few days, and had taken to her bed.
She brightened up as they came in, and before either of them could say
a word, bade them, as if she knew for what they were come, to tell them
about her Jan. So they told her how he had fallen in fair fight with
the French, among the rear-guard, which had covered itself with glory
in the retreat; and she said that it was well. And they told her how
Lucy his wife had stuck to him faithfully through all the hardship of
war, that she had carried his boy to the end, when men were dying all
round of fatigue and despair, and had brought him out alive, by her
patience and courage, though injured for life; and that she had devoted
herself wholly to him in the years that followed and died from grief
when he died.
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